Planteamiento del Modelo Conceptual para la Formación de Grupos de Acción Territorial

have influenced their understanding of social issues, themselves, and their future aspirations. Thirteen participants described how the interactions with specific people and/or tasks allowed them to grow personally and professionally. For example, Aaron volunteered at the migrant school and described what he learned from some of the children:

I noticed it with the kids. Boys hung out with boys. Girls hung out with girls. there was next to no interaction between the two groups. It wasn't forced on them. It was just culturally how they fell. Dudes are kind of touchy feely, too. They like to hug and that kind of shit, which is fine. We have a little hyper masculinity in America. I get that. But they did that a lot. I wrote it off because they're kids. But then we went to the club. I was like, damn. The grown men do the same thing. They hugged just as much as the fifth graders at the migrant school did. Culturally, it's kind of weird but it made me appreciate that friendship.

Aaron grew to understand friendship through watching the children interact. His frame of reference shifted as a result of comparing the interactions of men and women in China to those in the United States. Aaron was asked to describe why the interactions between men and women resonated with him:

As a Black man, we fight like hell to prevent emotional growth. The shit sucks. Just being out there, the rules and the laws to your manhood, it doesn’t matter. You can take it too serious and let it hold you down for umpteen years or you can actually just chill and begin to grow, begin to think differently with the way you see other men, with the way you see friendships, for the way you love, the way you learn new things. It's not intangible, but it's definitely a good thing that I took from the trip.

Through observing children, Aaron questioned the idea of Black male masculinity and concluded that socially constructed rules that dictate how a Black man should act did not

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apply in China. Aaron was the only participant to express this point of view; however, the concept of Black masculinity deserves further examination in future studies.

Bella described her experience volunteering at the migrant school:

That experience was awesome, because we went in there thinking we were going to teach the children English, we were going to teach them all about America. They knew English, we didn't have to teach them a thing. They knew way more English than we knew Mandarin, it was almost embarrassing. I thought we were teaching them more than we actually were. Instead, they were teaching me about their culture.

Bella assumed the migrant students would need a great deal of tutoring. However, once she realized the migrant students knew more than she thought, her assumption changed. As a result, Bella recognized and began to learn from the migrant school students, which led to her having a positive experience at the school.

Participants also described how these experiences helped them recognize institutional systematic inadequacies. Bria shared her thoughts:

I wasn't convinced anyone had a worse education system than the things that are being taught in America, but once I was working at the migrant school I realized there’s so many things to consider when evaluating education. That's one of the things I think about now, just because I ultimately want to run and operate my own charter school. I also realized that what we have going on in the US, although it's not great, is a whole hell of a lot better than some of the things that they were facing in China.

Bria described how comparing the condition of the China’s educational system to that of the United States influenced her perspective on education and educational disparities, thus contributing a great deal of knowledge to her career aspirations.

Jake discussed how his internship experience contributed to his personal and professional growth as well:

I think what I got the most out of study abroad was my internship program. I worked in one of the townships with a tour company. Basically, I helped him

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reorganize his operations. He was very disorganized. He was overpaying his staff and had negative profit margins, so being able to help teach him business

strategies, such as an income statement or how to basically save your money was actually fulfilling because he didn't know how to save. It was cool to be able to teach him that and see how much I actually learned from my colleagues was pretty cool.

Jake demonstrated how he was able to implement and apply business principles to organizations, highlighting how his study abroad experience shaped him professionally.

In the previous section, I presented the findings related to each research question. In the next section, I provide an overall summary of the chapter.

Summary of the Chapter

Overall, this study provided insight into the study abroad experiences of fifteen Black and Latinx students who participated in a short-term study abroad program. The study’s findings were presented via five large themes: (1) individual awareness, (2) my friends, family, and community, (3) career development, (4) who you study abroad with matters, (5) program design. Fifteen subthemes emerged from the larger themes: (1) Awakening of American identity, (2) ethnic identity empowerment, (3) self-assurance, (4) family change of perspective, (5) social responsibility, (6) career clarification, (7) career interviews and application navigation, (8) making connections, (9) transferable skills, (10) comfortability, (11) intragroup diversity, (12) faculty/staff support, (13) study abroad preparation, (14) destination matters, and (15) experiential learning.

In chapter five, I present results related to the research questions, a summary of the overall study, conclusions drawn from the research findings, a discussion of the research findings, recommendations, and future research.

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Chapter Five – Discussion and Recommendations Introduction

Despite efforts to increase study abroad participation, study abroad programs still remain disproportionality white (NCES, 2016). Scholars have further agreed that there is much to discover about the relationship of study abroad and students of color. Thus, it was important to examine the study abroad experiences of Black and Latinx students. In this chapter, I provide a discussion of the research study by directly connecting the themes back to my conceptual framework and to the extant literature. I conclude with recommendations for practice, areas for future research and my conclusion.

Findings Related to the Conceptual Framework

After completing this study and determining the findings, I revisited the

transformative learning framework to determine if it explained the findings of the study. To review, transformative learning refers to learning that transforms problematic frames of reference to make them more inclusive, discriminating, reflective, open, and

emotionally able to change (Taylor & Cranton, 2012). An individual can experience a transformation in learning experience through one of four ways: (1) by elaborating existing meanings schemes, (2) learning new meaning schemes, (3) transforming meaning schemes, and (4) transforming perspectives. A transformative learning

experience is activated by a perspective transformation or a disorienting dilemma. In the case of this research study, the study abroad experience represented the catalyst that activated the disorientating dilemma, which resulted in the participants transforming their frames of reference. In the following section, I outline how the various subthemes

129 Elaborating existing meaning schemes

The subthemes of family change of perspective and faculty/staff support were the result of participants’ abilities to elaborate on their current frames of reference,

essentially changing their point of view. In regard to family growth, many of the participants discussed how they were apprehensive to apply or inform their parents of their decisions to study abroad due to fear of no family support. However, once

participants returned to the United States, their families viewed them as more mature and better trusted their children’s judgement. As a result, participants’ parents were more receptive to their children traveling and relocating out of state, illustrating the change in the parents’ point of view. All of the participants were encouraged to apply or committed to study abroad as a result of faculty and staff following up with students about their study abroad application and explaining the benefits of study abroad. Once participants understood how a study abroad program could benefit them professionally, their points of view changed and they applied to the program.

Learning new meaning schemes

The subtheme of comfortability can be attributed to the second process of learning, learning new meaning schemes, which states that an individual seeks out evidence to support their own initial bias on their point of view. Several participants described how they experienced new opportunities and connected with their classmates as a result of their similar backgrounds. The fact that the participants shared many similarities and felt more comfortable illustrates their appreciation for being around people who share a similar point of view. The subtheme of intragroup diversity can also be attributed to the participants’ ability develop new points of view. This subtheme

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illustrates how intragroup diversity allowed the participants to develop new points of view through understanding the experience of other students that did not share the same background.

Transforming meaning schemes

The following subthemes - awakening of American identity, ethnic identity empowerment, self-assurance, and social responsibility - can be attributed to the third way individuals learn, which is the process of transforming meaning schemes, or changing one’s previously held view points.

For example, the participants were all aware of their American identity and ethnic identity; however, in conversations with foreigners, they would only identify or mention their ethnic identity versus their national identity. However, after immersing themselves in foreign culture, the participants were challenged to confront their American identities, as many foreigners viewed them as American first. The participants were also

empowered to learn more of or embrace their ethnic identity based on interactions with their peers, class discussions, and immersing themselves into the foreign culture.

Participants became more confident in their personal decisions due to taking advantage of new opportunities. Lastly, participants developed a strong desire to help others and encourage others to study abroad.

These four findings illustrate how the participants’ previously held viewpoints were transformed as a result of their study abroad experience. For example, interactions with foreigners and classmates challenged the participants to construct new meaning schemes associated with their American identity, ethnic identity, individual confidence, and social responsibility. As a result, participants viewed themselves differently.

131 Transforming Perspectives

The subthemes of career clarification, career interview and application navigation, making connections, and transferable skills relate to the fourth way in which individuals learn. The fourth process of transforming meaning structures is the process of

transforming habits of the mind. The participants indicated how they used their study abroad experience to navigate the work force, stand out among other applicants, and build rapport with fellow coworkers. Many of them also indicated that barriers such as grade point average challenged them to rethink how they navigated such barriers. As a result of understanding the value of their study abroad experience, the participants used their study abroad experience to leverage professional opportunities, illustrating how participants changed and developed new habits of the mind to navigate barriers or to distinguish themselves.

Findings Related to The Literature

Several findings related to this study were confirmed by extant literature. Studies (Anderson, 2005; Black & Duhon, 2006; Gmelch, 1997; Gonyea, 2008) indicate students who study abroad have significantly higher levels of tolerance, self-confidence, sense of independence, and openness upon returning. Many of the Black and Latinx students within this study experienced several of these outcomes. For example, participants discussed their resulting strong commitment to and desire to give back to their communities.

Study abroad research also shows that students of color who participate in study abroad programs may re-conceptualize their national and racial identities (Jackson, 2006;

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Lu et al 2015). This finding was echoed in the current study. Several participants highlighted the interactions with foreign locals that challenged them to reevaluate how they ethnically and nationally identified. Research further emphasizes that many students of color participate in study abroad as a result of interactions with faculty and their peers (Holmes, 2008; Lu et al 2015).

Scholars have also explored the relationship between study abroad and career development. Carlson, Burn, Useem, and Yachimowicz (1990) found that study abroad programs empowered students to consider overseas employment. In addition, Hadis (2005) found that study abroad experiences influenced participants’ short-term and long- term career goals. Both of these conclusions were consistent with the findings in the study.

Contributions to the Literature

This study contributed new knowledge to the extant literature on study abroad through five themes: family change of perspective, the value of study abroad, career interview and application navigation, cohort participant selection, and staff selection. In the following section, I discuss each of these contributions.

Family Change of Perspective

The results from this study indicated that participants’ family members were affected by the participants’ study abroad experiences. Several participants indicated that their parents and family members had several concerns in regard to safety, funding, and communication. As a result, parents of participants were reluctant to let them travel abroad. However, after participants traveled abroad and returned, the parents of participants were more open to their child taking advantage of new opportunities. I

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suggest that this occurred as a result of the parents growing comfortable with their children’s independence attributable, in part, to having to adjust to limited

communication with their child while abroad. The parents adapted to having less

communication with their children than they were previously accustomed to; in this way, the concern for their children lessened, allowing the parent(s) to release some parental control and allowing students to take advantage of new opportunities.

The Value of Study Abroad

Despite study abroad literature showing that many students of color often choose not to study abroad due to finances, the findings from this study indicate that participants did not view funding as a concern when they applied to study abroad. Many of them went on to further state that they understood the value of the study abroad experience and were determined to figure out a way to identify and receive funding. This leads me to believe that students of color are equipped to find resources to study abroad. However,

participants may not immediately understand the value of study abroad. Many of the participants interviewed were first-generation and indicated how their priority was to graduate and secure a job. It was only when faculty and staff took time to explain how their study abroad experience could contribute to their ability in securing job prospects that participants became more receptive to study abroad opportunities. Thus, this

subtheme illustrates that participants do not immediately understand the value of a study abroad experience.

134 Career Interview Application Navigation

Participants indicated that in the majority of their job interviews post-study abroad, the interviewer spent the majority of time asking about their study abroad experiences. In addition, participants also indicated that their study abroad experience helped them to navigate barriers such as low GPAs. I suggest this was a reoccurring subtheme for three reasons. First, people attempt to identify commonalities to create small talk and build rapport. The interviewer could have used this strategy to connect with the participants. Second, the interviewer could have been trying to glean information about transferable skills gained through international travel. Third, participants used discussions of study abroad to highlight their strengths. I also believe this occurred because study abroad can be used to build rapport and many people can relate to travel. Cohort Participant Selection

All of the participants mentioned that the other students with whom they studied abroad became their longtime friends. The participants further discussed how their classmates challenged them to grow in regard to social awareness issues, supported them through new opportunities, and felt more confident in a foreign context since the

participants shared similar background characteristics. Staff Selection

Many of the participants described how staff members supported them

emotionally, academically, and professionally while abroad. Furthermore, participants also stressed how the faculty and staff support helped alleviate family fears and concerns, challenged them to venture out and explore their study abroad host cities, as well as provided mentorship to the participants when they returned to the United States. The staff

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were involved in the selection process from the moment the application became available to study abroad to when participants returned to the United States.

Significance

The findings for this study enhanced the current literature by supporting previous findings, introducing program characteristics that may influence a student’s decision to study abroad, highlighting the importance of intragroup diversity, and illustrating how Black and Latinx participants leverage their study abroad experiences for professional and academic opportunities. The research study also identified how families are affected by study abroad experience, as well as highlighted program characteristics participants found to have inspired and contributed to their overall study abroad experience. The study also enhanced literature by focusing on the experiences of Black and Latinx students and providing recommendations that support Black and Latinx study abroad recruitment. In the next section, I discuss the recommendations for practice generated by this research.

Recommendations for Practice

As this study demonstrated, it is possible for institutions to recruit students from diverse backgrounds. Because the scope of this study focused on Black and Latinx students, the recommendations for practice will center on how to increase Black and Latinx student participation in study abroad programs. After careful analysis and review of the

interviews of the fifteen participants in the study and reviewing study abroad literature, I present the following recommendations for practice:

1. The themes and subthemes illustrated within this study indicate that students’ decisions to study abroad were largely due to positive relationships they had with

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the faculty and staff. This seems to suggest that participants were more likely to invest in opportunities when individuals they held in high regard believed in the said opportunity and believed in them as students. For this reason, study abroad office staff should collaborate with professionals on campus who have rapport with students of color. Ideally, partnerships should reflect a community based approach to supporting students in study abroad. For example, a potential

partnership could include staff from a study abroad program, individuals from an advocacy office who have strong rapport with students of color, and the